New law gets Berlusconi off the hook Crucial evidence in corruption case will be ruled inadmissible
Philip Willan in Rome Wednesday October 3, 2001 The Guardian The Italian senate was expected to approve a bill last night which critics say is intended to protect the legal interests of the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. The law, which restricts the way international judiciaries speak to each other, will hamstring magistrates who are seeking financial information from the authorities in Switzerland, where Mr Berlusconi keeps bank accounts which are the subject of corruption investigations. Crucial prosecution evidence against the prime minister will now be unusable in court, opponents say. The law will also ensure Mr Berlusconi's acquittal on charges of corrupting magistrates. The opposition says the bill, which will have retroactive effect, has been rushed through to head off the embarrassing prospect of the prime minister being convicted. Mr Berlusconi is accused by Milan prosecutors of having bribed Rome judges in order to win civil cases giving him control over a food group and a publishing group. On the basis of financial evidence obtained from Switzerland, the prosecutors claim that Mr Berlusconi's lawyer Cesare Previti paid large sums of money to Renato Squillante to obtain favourable verdicts. "Hundreds of billions of lire [hundreds of millions of pounds] were at stake and tens of billions were paid in bribes," said Giovanni Kessler, a former magistrate who is now a member of parliament for the Left Democrats. Mr Berlusconi and Mr Previti deny doing anything wrong and reject suggestions that the new law has been framed to serve their interests. Prosecutors are reported to have received evidence showing that nearly �300,000 was paid from a Swiss bank account belonging to Mr Berlusconi's Fininvest company in 1991 to another Swiss account belonging to Mr Previti, the sum finally ending up in a Swiss account controlled by Mr Squillante. A Fininvest director has admitted setting up the original account, according to a report in the Corriere della Sera. The new law would make that evidence inadmissible in court. Some of Mr Berlusconi's coalition allies have privately expressed disgust at the measures which critics claim have been drawn up to save Mr Berlusconi. Last week a number of government deputies voted with the opposition to approve amendments to the bill. The new law obliges magistrates, before they cooperate internationally, to certify the authenticity of all documents they send abroad, and to communicate via the justice ministry. This contradicts a trend in Europe to speed up and simplify cooperation procedures. But what most alarms many Italians is that the retroactive effect means that documents presented as evidence in thousands of current cases will be declared inadmissible and the procedures to obtain them will have to be repeated. Witness statements relating to the rejected documents will also be struck out. Hundreds of defendants accused of serious crimes could be released as a result, Mr Kessler said. He said the government's eagerness to rush through the bill and its retroactive effects were clear indications that the measure was aimed at getting Mr Berlusconi off the hook. "Corrupting judges is a very shameful crime. It's a crime against justice and against the equality of citizens before the law," he said. "Even a conviction at the first stage of the trial could have the effect of blocking Mr Berlusconi's political career. That's why they want to rush the law through so quickly." For years Mr Berlusconi has been accused of entering politics for the benefit of his �12bn business empire, which includes television stations and newspapers. He promised to resolve the issue within 100 days of taking office in June. Full article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,562101,00.html Michael Keaney Mercuria Business School Martinlaaksontie 36 01620 Vantaa Finland [EMAIL PROTECTED]
